By: West  S.B. No. 1531
         (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2021; March 24, 2021, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
  April 8, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
  Nays 0; April 8, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to formula funding for excess undergraduate credit hours
  at public institutions of higher education and to the tuition rate
  that may be charged for those credit hours.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 54.014, Education Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  An institution of higher education may charge a resident
  undergraduate student tuition at a higher rate than the rate
  charged to other resident undergraduate students, not to exceed the
  rate charged to nonresident undergraduate students, if before the
  semester or other academic session begins the student has
  previously attempted a number of semester credit hours for courses
  taken at any institution of higher education while classified as a
  resident student for tuition purposes that exceeds [by at least 30
  hours] the number of semester credit hours required for completion
  of the degree program in which the student is enrolled by at least:
               (1)  for an associate degree program, 15 hours; or
               (2)  for a baccalaureate degree program, 30 hours.
         (a-1)  For purposes of Subsection (a) [this subsection], an
  undergraduate student who is not enrolled in a degree program is
  considered to be enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program [or
  programs requiring a minimum of 120 semester credit hours,
  including minors and double majors, and for completion of any
  certificate or other special program in which the student is also
  enrolled, including a program with a study-abroad component].
         (a-2)  An institution of higher education that charges
  students tuition at a higher rate under Subsection (a) [this
  subsection] may adopt a policy under which the institution exempts
  from the payment of that higher rate a student that is subject to
  the payment of the higher rate solely as a result of hardship as
  determined by the institution under the policy.
         SECTION 2.  Sections 61.0595(a) and (b), Education Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  In the formulas established under Section 61.059, the
  board may not include funding for semester credit hours earned by a
  resident undergraduate student who before the semester or other
  academic session begins has previously attempted a number of
  semester credit hours for courses taken at any institution of
  higher education while classified as a resident student for tuition
  purposes that exceeds [by at least 30 hours] the number of semester
  credit hours required for completion of the degree program or
  programs in which the student is enrolled, including minors and
  double majors, and for completion of any certificate or other
  special program in which the student is also enrolled, including a
  program with a study-abroad component, by at least:
               (1)  for an associate degree program, 15 hours; or
               (2)  for a baccalaureate degree program, 30 hours.
         (b)  For purposes of Subsection (a), an undergraduate
  student who is not enrolled in a degree program is considered to be
  enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program [requiring a minimum of
  120 semester credit hours].
         SECTION 3.  Section 54.014, Education Code, as amended by
  this Act, applies beginning with tuition charged for the 2023 fall
  semester.
         SECTION 4.  Section 61.0595, Education Code, as amended by
  this Act, applies beginning with funding recommendations made under
  Section 61.059, Education Code, for the state fiscal biennium
  beginning September 1, 2023.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
  * * * * *